Posted on 02/01/2003 6:16:05 AM PST by GRRRRR
Shuttle has NOT been heard from or seen on tracking radar since 0800Hrs CDT. No contact at Merrit Island tracking station, no voice comm...DEVELOPING.
So which part of the Atlantic ocean do you live in?
It may not fly directly over her home, however, if it flies towards the north, the exhaust trail would easily be seen from her house.
"The Challenger's reaction control system ruptured and a hypergolic burn of its propellants occurred."
Hypergoilic is the definition of two substances that ignite upon contact with each other without an external energy source.
For example: Monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) and nitrogen tetroxide (N2O4)
The problem is that the Columbia almost certainly didn't bring its ISS docking module along. There would have been no way for the shuttle to dock with the ISS, no way to transfer the crew, and no way to bring the shuttle close enough for a visual inspection without risking a collision between them.
I believe we may be beating a dead horse here, and I will bow out of the debate after this (although I am certainly willing to read any response you may have). I don't believe there is any wrong or right where such personal needs are concerned. And no, of course the fact that those who would achieve some sort of closure by locating the body parts of their loved ones doesn't have to make sense to me.
As for the families of the MIA's from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam wanting to locate the remains of their loved ones, that is an entirely different situation from what occurred in the sky over Texas today.
Most of those families have no idea what happened to their loved ones. Some of them have even heard heartbreaking stories of POWs still being in the hands of their captors. It would seem to me that the not knowing would be maddening. On the other hand, as tragic a story as the horrible vapor trails of this morning tell, the astronaut's families have no questions regarding their loved one's final fate. Their mourning at least knows a starting point. The families of the men who never returned from war have to live with an eternal question mark, and their mourning is open-ended.
Columbia was the first orbiter constructed. Later ones were lighter.
Plus, after the politicos appeased the Russians (IMHO) and agreed to put the ISS in an orbital inclination advantageous for them, the fleet had to be upgraded again.
Upgrades to the SRB's, the SSME's and other systems were made to allow the vehicles to attain orbit at that inclination.
Columbia did not have those upgrades.
When I worked as a fuel element designer at an atomic power lab in the early seventies, we were periodically besieged, on site, by hordes of useful, placard-carrying, idiots. I generally walked right by them into the lab. Once I stopped and talked with them, only to find that there was no talking with them. They knew nothing about that which they were protesting. All they knew was that it (the design of nuclear power plants) had to be discredited, and the plants had to be dismantled. Ignorance (especially ignorance which receives national attention, and national acceptance) is a very dangerous thing.Joanie, this evokes an indelible memory. You know how they say we all remember that moment we learned of remarkable events? Three Mile Island is one for me. It came of an hysterical face, a lost, happy desparation I encountered on the backyard escape route while skipping class in High School. As I slithered away from math class, I encountered one of the school hippies. He came up to me, shaking with excitement. "Haven't you heard? Haven't you heard?" He held my shoulders and shook me with his convulsions. "Three Mile Island blew up!"
I didn't know how many miles to that island, or to which island, anyway, but I did know that whatever it meant, whatever happened, however bad, this dope-happy moron was damned pleased with it.
A life-defining moment for me -- the making of a conservative, right there in Bethesda, MD, Montgomery County, Liberal-Central. I knew immediately it wasn't the stench of pot that was wrong that day. Or Three Mile Island.
PS Saw another of your posts: Dammit, Joanie, I'm gonna raid your keyboard and remove the "9" and "0" keys. You used a double parenthesis -- you've outdone yourself!
I am axious to see what this coin goes for on Ebay next week. $15.00 is my guess.
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